Sanctuary OneShot
by incendioreality
Summary: Hermione is being tortured in the Malfoy Manor but an unexpected savior comes along


The moments before death are the clearest. Everything you see is magnified by one hundred and you see things you've never seen before. However, from her position all Hermione Granger could see was Bellatrix LeStrange. The woman was on top of her, spitting nasty things in Hermione's face and questions that Hermione could not answer. Every time she did not give a good enough reply, more blood slurs were carved into Hermione's arm. At first, Hermione screamed like she never had before; the pain overtaking her every thought. Now, after a few hours of torture, Hermione was quite detached and the pain was still as horrid but her throat was not allowing her to scream any longer. Looking at Bellatrix, she realized that she was actually quite a beautiful woman. Her hair was a silky black and her face looked young despite her ancient thoughts. Hermione missed Bella's questioned which meant more carving, so to distract herself from the pain she looked around her. The dimly lit living room of the Malfoy Manor was quite a dreary place. It's inhabitants did not look any better. Lucius's time in Azkaban were etched into his features and his eyes were that of a mad mans. Narcissa Malfoy was looking just as aristocratically beautiful as she always had, but she too looked strained and weary. From where Hermione was, she could see tear marks on Narcissa's face, could this be true? Was a Malfoy crying for her? Hermione shook her head in confusion but Bellatrix took that as her protesting so she began to carve more things into Hermione's pale skin. Her eyes fell back to Lucius and she saw his arm was out and stiff, he was holding something or someone back. Hermione looked past his arm and she felt the world stop turning. Lucius was pinning his son against the wall. Hermione had not seen Draco since the night of Dumbledore's death. The memory came flooding into her mind, fresh and potent:

_ Hermione was worried. Harry had not been in Gryffindor Tower all night and it was nearing one o' clock in the morning. Her motherly side had kicked in and she began to search the castle for him; she was a prefect and could roam as she pleased. She was nearing the dungeons when she saw the pale head of blond her she was so accustomed to seeing. Malfoy had been different this year. He stayed quite silent in every one of the classes she had with him and he always seemed troubled by something. His most disturbing change was that he had not once taunted or bullied her. The M word had not fallen from his lips once this year and he no longer looked at her with contempt and disgust. His gaze had actually been a curious one this year.  
><em>

_ Given his changes, Hermione felt no hesitation when she tapped his shoulder that night. She was only trying to tell him to get back to bed, he wasn't a prefect anymore so curfew still applied to him. She was not ready for what happened next. He whipped around, looking down at her, his silver eyes peeved. Yet, when he saw that it was her the silver pools softened for a millisecond before growing hard. Draco grabbed her arm and dragged her into an empty class room. Her mouth was opening in protest when his fingers touched her lips, shushing her._

_ She looked up at him defiantly but then she saw his eyes again, he was crying. "Draco. Draco, what is it? What's the matter?," Hermione did not know why she was so concerned but she could not help it.  
><em>

_ "You. Have. To. Hide," He choked out, trying to keep his composure. "Go to Gryffindor tower, go to the Prefects bathroom, go to Dumbledore's office, I don't care just go somewhere secure," He was antsy now, looking around every moment. Something was coming. "Promise me, Granger. Promise me that you will keep safe tonight?"  
><em>

_ She gaped at the sincerity and protective nature of his voice. Hermione could not find her voice so she nodded feebly, his fingers still against her lips. Chocolate eyes met silver and suddenly Draco was on her, his strong arms around her in a neck breaking embrace. Hermione found herself hugging him back and she was surprised at how safe she felt there pressed against him. He smelled of sandalwood and old books. She felt her own tears escape her lidded eyes as his lips came down on her forehead. And just as quickly as he had grabbed her, she was released.  
><em>

_ Draco was already at the door, his hand on the knob when he whispered over his shoulder ,"Be safe, Hermione. Be safe." And with that he slithered silently out into the night. Leaving her alone and confused.  
><em>

Shaken from her memories by a healthy slap to the face, Hermione looked up into the dark wild eyes of Bellatrix. She had bent talking and Hermione unfortunately had not been listening.

"Pay attention you fucking scum! I am carving so deeply into your arm that I know for a fact that soon, I will hit bone. As much as I enjoy hurting you, your filthy blood is starting to stain our floor. So you give me answers and you give me them soon."

With that, she was off of her. Bellatrix was now interrogating someone else, a goblin it seemed. Hermione looked at her arms and she almost chundered everywhere. Her flesh was carved into the most horrific words, mudblood being a big theme, and she saw that Bellatrix had almost carved a half inch into her arm. Yes, this is where she was going to die. Using her time wisely, Hermione whipped her head around to look at the struggling boy behind Lucius. Draco Malfoy looked tired. His neat blond hair was disheveled and his face was carved out of stone when their eyes met. He peeked out of the corner of his eyes and caught sight of something by the stairs, he looked at his family before he looked back into Hermione's eyes. He mouthed 'Stay strong, just a little bit longer'. Confused by his words she had almost missed Bellatrix's words: The same can't be said for this one. Her time was up, it was time to die.

"Like hell! Expelliarmus!," Ron's voice roared through the desolate room and Hermione felt her eyes grow wide.

She watched a duel play out before her, Ron against Narcissa and Harry facing Draco. Narcissa was putting up a good fight but Harry could see that Draco was putting forth minimum effort and the Golden Boy's face was screwed up in a confused expression. Suddenly she felt her self being pulled up, she could tell it was Bellatrix pulling her to her feet because of the dirty fingernails. Hermione felt her hair being yanked so she was looking up at the ceiling and then a cold sharp object was pressed to her throat. A slow death had been planned for her, lovely. Bellatrix ordered Harry and Ron to drop their wands and she was guessing they saw her current predicament by the clattering of their wands hitting the floor. She smelled a slight draft of a familiar scent pass her and she knew it had been Draco. He was behind her now but it was too late. She heard Bellatrix giving Lucius the order to call the Dark Lord. All Hermione could do was pray Bellatrix would slit her throat before Voldemort got his hands on her. She felt the dark woman tense as everyone's ears registered a peculiar noise. Hermione was the first one to see it since she was already looking up, Dobby the house elf was slowly unscrewing the chandelier above Hermione and her captor.

Everything moved very quickly after that. The chandelier was coming hurtling towards her, Dobby apparated, Bellatrix dropped her and ran, and Harry screamed "No!". Hermione closed her eyes, welcoming the swift death the falling object would bring. However, when it should have hit her, it did not. She felt strong arms around her and she was engulfed in the scent she had been yearning to smell.

"Draco," She whispered, unable to look up.

Whether he answered or not was lost on the deafening silence that was apparition. She felt him uncomfortable squeezed beside her and then she lost consciousness.

The stinging sensation in her arms woke Hermione. She was warm and soaked. Her eyes fluttered open and she was met with the sight of a very large bathroom. She was in a tub and someone was touching her wounds, they felt as deep as caverns. Hermione let her head fall limply to the side so that she could look at her savior. He did not see her looking right away, too focused on healing her. His face was tense and frightened but his eyes were determined. He was wearing a long sleeved t-shirt, the sleeves rolled up around his elbows. His blond fringe was matted to his forehead and his wand was shaking in his unsteady hand. Hermione took her eyes away from him to look at her wounds, her once mutilated arm was slowly filling again. She could see that she would have dimples where Bellatrix had gone particularly deep but she was almost fully healed.

Hermione looked back at him then, Draco still oblivious to her. "Been reading up on your healing spells, have you?," Her voice wasn't as rough as she had expected but it was still husky.

His head snapped up and she saw relief flood his features. "You're awake," He breathed. "How do you feel?"

"Like I was bit by an angry hipogrif but I'm not complaining," She said teasingly but she could see he was not in the mood for jokes. "Draco, thank you. You saved my life." The magnitude of what he had done hit her then. He was helping the enemy.

"Do not thank me, Granger," He said quite passionately ,"I do not deserve your gratitude. You deserved to live. You have to live. I-" He shut down then, his face turning crimson at his unspoken words.

"Just say it, Draco," She murmured.

"I can't imagine a world with out you in it," The words were rushed and Hermione had to tighten her jaw so that it would not drop open. "I- I ," He tripped over his words and Hermione found it incredibly endearing, she had never seen him this vulnerable. She felt something squeeze inside of her at his words.

"Shh, Malfoy," She spoke quietly but his head still whipped up at her words, his silver eyes searching hers for any sign of falseness as she started speaking ,"Do not analyze me before I even speak. You… You've been on my mind these past months. I thought a lot about how you affect me and to be honest I think half of the reason I worked so hard in school was because of you. To prove you wrong, also because you're just as intelligent as I am and I wanted to keep up. Something happened to you last year and I don't know what it was and you don't have to explain it to me but you've changed. I can… well I think/i I can see you, for what you actually are. You… you aren't evil, Draco. You've just made all the wrong choices," He flinched at Dumbledore's last words to him ,"You're correcting them and I can see that. You… you're not a bad person in the slightest." She finished in a whisper. Hermione's cheeks were flushed at her confession and she could not understand why she had said it all.

The way he was looking at her made her embarrassment fade. His silver eyes were closer than he thought they were. With her head resting against the cool rim of the tub he was only a few inches away from her. His eyes were soft and his hand was coming towards her, he cupped her cheek gently and she moved into his touch. She could tell her was trying to figure out what to say next so she waited patiently as he thought.

"You… I… I have a confession to make, Granger," His voice was dangerously serious. "I…I've never truly hated you. I tried bloody hard to hate you but I stopped fighting it. I'm _supposed_ to hate you. I was such a git to you because I was frustrated that you were so hard to hate and frustrated with myself for not being able to dislike you as I should. You are the reason I got good marks in classes and you're the only person to make me question my family's beliefs. You have bewitched me in a way no one else has," She could tell her eyes were wide but she did not care, her heart was quizzing blissfully again,"You are an amazing and beautiful girl… well woman as I can see now. You have altered my life in a way I cannot describe to you."

Hermione brought her hand to his lips to silence him, her hand still wet. Draco's grip on her cheek tightened and she saw him swallow nervously. She could tell it was coming and she knew she should protest but everything was feeling so right. By that time, his face was an inch from hers and she could feel his breath against her lips. she could not wait any longer, Hermione lifted her head up to him and felt her lips meet his. They were softer than she imagined but strong at the same time.

There kissing him, it felt like there was no war. She was not Undesirable number two. Voldemort did not exist. There was only the gentle pull of his lips and the sound of their mingled breaths. Draco was her escape, her sanctuary. A sudden feeling of invincibility washed over Hermione. She felt that as long as they were together, there was always a reason to keep fighting.


End file.
